"Emarosa - Emarosa" Solid, but Unmemorable

 


    Imagine my surprise to put on a song from this band and hear Jonny Craig of all people on this record. Now, I will not pretend to be the worlds biggest Jonny Craig fan, I started listening to Dance Gavin Dance long after he left, and honestly my fondest DGD memories rarely involved him. Yeah I enjoyed Downtown Battle Mountain II, but I was always a Tillian guy. Though frankly considering how many vocalists the band cycles through it'd be a safer bet to just not root for any of them. I mean sure the Macbook thing was funny but Craig also had the worst history by far so I was never too inclined to try and appreciate him. Nevertheless, I did really enjoy A Toast to the future kids!, so I have high hopes for this album that my friend CJ's fake girlfriend recommended, so without further ado a track-by-track review.

Emarosa - Emarosa

A Toast to the future kids! - 90/100 The chorus to this song is so ridiculously catchy it's almost unfair. I'm not sure how to feel about placing one of the best songs at the beginning, though considering how short this album is I don't think it'll end up hurting it too much, and frankly I shouldn't be worrying so much about proper track listing so early into an album.

Pretend.Relive.Regret - 80/100 It feels illegal to be enjoying Jonny Craig this much, but I guess perhaps I should give his earlier work with DGD another listen because I'm really digging this albums start so far.

Share the sunshine young blood - 45/100 Sadly it seems Emarosa's good fortunes end here for some reason I'm finding the main guitar riff kind of grating if we're going to be honest, the parts where it's not playing are fine the only issue is that it's the majority of the song. Perhaps I miss Will Swan.

Truth hurts while laying on your back - 75/100 A pretty solid bounce back considering how much I disliked the last two songs but sadly it lacks the oomf to really take it above an 80 for me. Maybe it'll get there on some relistens.

Live IT. Love IT, Lust IT - 65/100 Cringy intro aside this is a pretty good song, a bit on the slower side but once again while I do enjoy Craig's singing this track also seems to lack the catchiness from the first two tracks that really wowed me. The second verse did pique my interest back up a bit though

The game played right - 80/100 A good bounce back song for the band, particularly the chorus and bridge were two strong points for this song for me, though honestly the part in the first verse where he starts talking about ego and souls is kind of funny to me. Not sure how to feel about the outro it's fine but kind of long.

Broken VS the way we were born - 65/100 I assume a common complaint for this album is that it's going to sound really samey and I'd have to agree. I mean I don't hate the way it sounds, but it's not like it's catchy enough to make me really want to listen to more of it. Albums like these tend to just be a guessing game where I see which songs "click" for me.

I still feel her PT 4 - 80/100 I don't know if it's just the guitar riff in this song, but I do think this song is an upgrade for me compared to the rest of the tracks before. Do I think Craig's singing is particularly stellar on this track? Most certainly not but at least it's only for like 4 seconds before he goes back into the chorus.

The weight of love blinds eyes - 70/100 Sadly we are back on track for some fine enough music, I guess the first track really was the best.

We are life - 80/100 At least they close the album out decently strong. I think this is also another solid chorus from the band, I just don't have much to say because the best has already passed so at this point it mostly just feels like them trying to make up for lost ground in my eyes.

Final Score: 73/100

    The score averaged out to a clean number, which I always appreciate. Do I think my opinion of this album would be slightly higher if it didn't start off with the best track? Eh maybe but probably not. Lungs by Florence + the Machine starts off with arguably it's best track and that album holds a dear spot in my heart. Like I said it's just one of those albums that are fine and feels like me spinning a wheel to see what I enjoy. Like yes I definitely enjoy most of the songs off of this album but frankly it's not memorable to me really. I mean this should track with the fact that I'm not a Jonny Craig guy. Oh well, I'm just going to go listen to A Toast to the future kids! and you should too.

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